The main task of governance all over the world is to provide social and economic infrastructure, protect life and property, and also create employment for the unemployed. The government is still expected to manage the economy by strategically formulating and implementing specific policies that can create opportunities for sustainable economic activities for the citizenry.

The need for economic development, particularly in areas such as poverty reduction, employment generation, and wealth creation focused on improving welfare and raising the general standard of living, has become a challenge that must be squarely guaranteed by government.

But to what extent can this responsibility be left to government alone? But 34-year old lender, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), believes the responsibility should not be left to government alone, because Nigeria is a country blessed with favourable climatic conditions, ample arable land and fertile soils.

Against this backdrop FCMB has taken a bold step towards empowering smallholder farmers as well as micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs), which industry watchers now define as the nucleus of developed economies’ action points. This is similar the present administration’s economic agenda, in which the Federal Government is set to align its fiscal, monetary, and trade policies to stimulate economic growth.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director, FCMB, Adam Nuru, said it is a conscious business objective of the Bank to partner with government in various clearly-defined economic activities that directly impact positively on the people, particularly the MSMEs, whose daily activities supply cohesion in the basic energy chain of the nation’s economy.

In one of the economic outreaches championed by FCMB, Nuru said: “the Bank has designed a group lending programme, which aims at creating financial awareness and empowerment for financially active women through micro credits, procurement and deployment of POS, and free mobile phones. These women have been identified in self-organised and homogenous groups that provide support and peer pressure to reimburse loans. It is quite innovative in Nigeria. Our focus on this aspect with the accruing benefits, are the unbanked, under-banked and low income customer segments that are also being acquainted with financial inclusion.”

FCMB key objectives include bringing financial services closer to both urban and rural small income earners, to enable them access loans in groups to drive financial inclusion.

The scheme also offers more flexible financial services to small income earners in the market, especially women, to increase their working capital to enable them expand their asset base to finance their household needs.

Under the terms, FCMB is responsible for determining those eligible to access its numerous loan portfolios. For instance, for MSME businesses to benefit, prospective participants must be 18-60 years, and also belong to a group. The group’s size must be 5-25 members, who enjoy mutual trust, confidence and respect, and live or work in close proximity to one another. The customer must have an income generating activity or business, which has been in existence for at least six months, and must exhibit the potential to save. And Group members are expected to be residing within a radius of 1km. FCMB is also offering free four weeks training organised for borrowers before loans’ disbursement.

Speaking on the economic agenda, Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, said: “government’s effort to restore growth depends very much on improved macroeconomic conditions. Accordingly, fiscal, monetary, and trade policies are being aligned to stimulate the economy and support growth while preventing overheating.”

He confirmed that sectoral policies were being implemented by the Government to diversify the economy, by boosting investments in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, construction, and the digital economy.

As such, the Deposit Money Banks, Osinbajo noted, were vital to the implementation of the government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.At the donation of a robust Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programme web portal developed for deployment nationwide to the Government, FCMB’s Nuru informed Osibajo that the Bank, as one of the top lenders in Nigeria, is already providing financial and technical advisory support to several operators in various sectors.

He listed these to include power sector projects, export trade, SMEs, and many others. “We will continue to intervene and offer support as well as solutions in developmental areas that would fast-track the growth of the aspirations of individuals, businesses and the country in general,” he added.

FCMB’s Microfinance project from inception, set the pace for rural and semi-urban economic prosperity and the resultant effect, has been profound. The Microfinance Bank also developed a robust software application for online real time transaction and reporting. Establishing a centralised system of operations, and loan review process, it has also commenced BVN registration for MFB clients with credit check on customers for improved loan assessment process. The Microfinance’s operation has already berthed in 53 branches covering 11 states in five geopolitical regions.

The FCMB Group Lending and Agency Banking projects are a digitised credit and savings solution, which facilitates instant account opening with debit card issuance for online real time transactions driven by point of sale (POS) and mobile devices.

The Group Chief Executive, FCMB Group Plc, Ladi Balogun, was quoted to have said: “the bank’s project is driving financial inclusion in Nigeria through the deployment of agents in communities without financial service providers. The project is highly driven by technology to create a distinct offering from other existing micro lending businesses. The automation of loan processing, disbursement, and repayment via POS and/or mobile solutions ensures an efficient and swift loan disbursement and collection process.”

In the area of agriculture, it is a concern however that as desirable as agriculture is to economic well-being, Nigeria is yet to maximise its potential. This is as a result of a combination of various factors, some of which include the relegation of agriculture to subsistence farming; non-prioritisation of agribusiness at different levels of governance; poor state of infrastructure such as research and storage facilities, extension and disjointed value chains, and the distraction occasioned by oil.

Fully conscious of the important role of key stakeholders in the agribusiness chain, and as a strong believer in the potential of agribusiness in Nigeria, FCMB’s intervention in the sector has left a far-reaching impact on this crucial part of the economy.

This has been attested to by the Chairman of Tractor Owners and Hiring Facilities Association of Nigeria (TOHFAN), Danladi Garba, when he commended FCMB for its support to the agric sector and farmers in Lagos. FCMB had provided funding worth N300million to TOHFAN for the acquisition of tractors that were distributed to operators and benefiting farmers throughout Nigeria.

The Bank also collaborated with Doreo Partners, an impact investing firm with a proven track record of exclusively investing in profitable, high growth, early stage businesses that improve the livelihoods of Nigerian smallholder farmers, to launch a support programme for farmers, known as BabbanGona (or “great farm”).

This is an agricultural franchise model, where farmers are trained, provided end-to-end support, and offered specially packaged loans to carry out their farming activities.

In line with its commitment to financial inclusion, which entails bringing the under-banked and unbanked population into the financial system, a drive which the CBN has been pursuing actively, FCMB selected a region with a high degree of financial exclusion, bringing on board farmers in the Gimba, Soba and Maigana communities. The franchise has about 18,000 farmers, developed by Doreo Partners and has a vision of reaching in excess of a million farmers in the near future

Another testimony associated with FCMB is the success of Psaltry International Farm in Ado-Awaye, Iseyin in Oyo State, whose achievements in cassava business, and agric value chain management have assumed international dimension. Managed by Mrs. Yemisi Iranloye, a biochemist and agric entrepreneur, the business has a farming base of over 10,000 hectares of land with about 2,000 out-growers. It also has a factory that processes cassava to food grade starch for supplies to large corporate in the food and beverage industries.

FCMB’s facilitation of nearly N1billion for Psaltry Farm under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s funding schemes for the sector has given the Iseyin agric community the much-needed economic boost. Apart from FCMB’s relationship with Psaltry, the Bank partnered with the farm to provide basic agricultural training for its farmers to understand the technical details of growing their produce for higher yield and improved income.

FCMB distinguishes itself by its extraordinary people and culture, a customer-focused and performance-driven environment. Its unique retail lending capabilities enables it to offer valued services to millions of underserved Nigerians directly and indirectly, whilst supporting its portfolio diversification objectives to deliver sustainable growth. Its investment and transaction banking services further distinguish it as a bank for companies, doing business within and outside Nigeria, with customers in need of value-added solutions.

The Bank’s distinctive capabilities and culture provide it with the critical elements for sustained growth and the competitiveness to fulfill its mission. With these, and many other economic activities, the Government has called on other financial institutions as well as other patriotic individuals to join FCMB to add value for national empowerment and economic development.